Prey For A Wolf
by Ace The Goldfish
Summary: All he cared about was revenge. She was the youngest female ever to achieve the rank of an ANBU captain. After someone she loved was attacked and killed, all signs pointing to him, she would forsake her village and hunt him down. She would make him pay for taking the life of one so close to her. But somewhere between hunting and killing him, she managed to fall for him. (Dark, SxH)
1. Chapter 1

A/N - I couldn't get the idea out of my head so I figured why not? I don't expect it to be extremely well received so I'm not sure how long I'll make this yet. Just depends.

* * *

**Prey for the White Eye Wolf**

Chapter 1- Revelations

She knew exactly who it was before autopsy. She remembered watching the medic unit pick up the body for transportation and even though she only caught a fleeting glance, she knew. She went back to her house that night with a dreadful sense of uselessness and prayed that she was wrong, but in the distant crevices of her mind, she knew it was pointless. The next day she was called to the Hokage's office unexpectedly, and again it confirmed her assumptions. The walk to the Hokage's mansion might have been one of the most strenuous she had ever had, and that was including when Lord Godaime Hokage relayed the news of Kiba's death.

She vividly remembered how she felt that day, as if it had only just happened and thinking about it two years later still left a dull ache in the pit of her stomach. She often wondered internally if Kiba's death was what changed her; Hardened her. After that she stopped believing in dreams. She gave up the idea of being loved by Naruto. She convinced herself that nothing else mattered more then her training, and had ultimately decided that she would become strong enough to protect those she loved, even if she needed to forsake them. She had focused more on training than anything else, and what had it got her besides the worried looks of Kurenai-Sensei and Shino?

_'Oh yeah, the title of the youngest female Anbu captain in the history of Konoha,'_ she thought sourly.

She was sixteen when she first entered the Anbu Black Ops, and by the time she had turned eighteen, she had become captain of her very own squad.

Sure she loved the acknowledgment, the respect, but after two years of torturing and killing in the name of Konoha, any logical man or women would begin to question if he or she was actually making a difference, or merely doing the counsil's bidding while clinging to the prospect of eventual peace. Anyone with keen observation, like herself, could see that the Hokage was only a public figure. She was known as the leader of Konoha but behind closed doors she was forced to abide by the rules of the council, as all kage were. Sure she had some say in the affairs of Konoha but they were the ones truly calling the shots. The Hokage was only the instrument needed to do so.

Hinata didn't take pride in being able to deduce such a thing; it was simply a fact. She recalled discussing the matter with both Shikamaru and Kakashi-Sensei, who both wholeheartedly agreed with her but had always responded with the same statement.

'_We're in no position of power so we are obligated to follow the orders of those superior, including the council members. It's our swore oath as ninja.'_

She knew that they were right but she still hated the fact that she was a pawn kept in the dark. She wondered if such thought would be considered treason. Lost in thought, she realized that she was standing in front of the the door to the Hokage's office. She was afraid of the knowledge behind it, afraid of being right. She scowled for being so weak.

_'I left the scared shy girl behind. Get a grip Hyuuga,'_ she chastised herself. Maybe she was being too hard on herself, but she knew the risks of caring for someone. She knew that at some point someone close to her heart would eventually perish. Death came with the job.

Knocking twice on the door, she waited for the usual call of approval to enter. When she opened the door, she was greeted with the sight of a tear streaked TenTen, a solemn faced Rock Lee, and most shockingly, a sober Tsunade, which alone was enough to make her hesitate at the door frame. Instead of fully entering, she spoke, silently hoping that her voice didn't sound as anxious as actually was.

"Hokage-sama? You called for me?"

Tsunade wordlessly gestured for her to enter with a flick of her hand. Hinata entered and after silently closing the door, took a moment to survey the messy office, all the while steeling her nerves for the inevitable news she knew she couldn't avoid.

"Hinata," Tsunade stated with a grim look of her face, "I'll get straight to the point. Hyuuga Neji was found killed two nights ago."

TenTen let out a choked sob and flung herself into Lee's arms, who hugged her tightly in return.

_'Tsunade...not one to mince words, are you?'_

Hinata was silent for a moment before responding in a strained voice. "...Have you located the whereabouts of the killer?"

With a stressful sigh, Tsunade shook her head. "We have yet to find the perpetrator or perpetrators. The autopsy conducted on Neji's body revealed multiple wounds from the base of his head to the bottom of his spinal cord. Whoever did this, he or she was relentlessly unmerciful. Our autopsy unit determined that after the attack, he likely suffered from a severe concussion and was unable to move due to the spinal injury. They surmised that he eventually lost consciousness and bleed out from the multiple wounds."

So in other words he was in pain until the moment he passed out. And to make matters worse, they had no idea who to blame for the attack. They didn't even have any leads, which probably meant whoever did this didn't reside in Konoha.

With barely contained rage, Hinata asked if she could be dismissed. Tsunade, knowing exactly what the Hyuuga Heiress was going through, knowing the pain of losing a loved one, gave her a pained smile.

"Excluding Guy and Hiashi, you three are the only people informed of the incidents occurred. Until we have more information, please keep this amongst yourselves to prevent civilian panic within the village. Dismissed."

With a nod, Hinata quickly walked out of the office, sparing TenTen a sympathetic glance. It was obvious the girl held deep feelings for her cousin, and it pained her to see someone so...resilient like her clinging to the arms of her teammate because Hinata herself was trying her best to keep her emotions in check.

As she got to her house, she unlocked the door and quietly slipped inside. She had moved out of her Hyuuga mansion as soon as she became a captain, though she usually visited her sister when she had time. Sitting down against her closed door, she slowly allowed the news of her cousins death to sink in. Only when she tried to get up to prepare her dinner did she allow the first sob to come out. And another. Sinking to the ground and burying her head in her hands, she cried until she began to developed a throbbing headache.

After a moment of grieving, she took shallow breaths, willing herself to calm down.. 'He's gone,' she thought, 'There's nothing I can do but accept it.'

And find the bastard who killed him and make them pay with their life. Trembling slightly, she picked herself up, removed her footwear, and walked towards the kitchen to begin preparing her supper, all the while thinking of the many ways she intended to make her cousins murderer suffer.

* * *

Blood red eyes stared into the faces of the sound village nin the snake bastard insisted come with him on this simple mission.

"Are we ready to resume traveling?"

"Yes sir! All the injured sound nin were disposed of like you commanded, sir!"

"Good. Tell everyone that we're about to head out. And I want every sensor type shinobi in the front with me. I want twenty men going into Takigakure and twenty men coming out."

As the sound nin captain left, the boy scowled. They had originally had no plans of stopping but after a surprise attack from a group of Cloud nin scouting the area (He had no idea why since they were no where near their village) and thirty casualties, they had no choice but to tend to the able injured and kill the ones too injured to continue. Brutal, he knew, but he didn't have time to piggy back wounded shinobi. He wished them a safe passageway to hell, because let's face it: They were all going to hell, including him. He didn't care, as long as purpose was fulfilled.

_'Hero Water,'_ the boy thought absently,_ 'It shouldn't be too tedious to acquire_.'

He could recall a past mission before his departure from Konoha that involved Hero Water. It was supposed to give the user immense chakra, if he remembered correctly, but at the cost of a shortened lifespan. Why Orochimaru wanted it, Sasuke did not know nor did he care in the slightest fashion. He only there on orders to retrieve it.

Sasuke Uchiha had changed drastically after his time with Orochimaru. His attire now consisted of a loosely worn white kimono (the Uchiha crest on the back of it of course), a dark blue hakama, and navy bottoms. Although he still had both shuriken and kunai, his primary weapon was his Kusanagi, which had fairly good range in combat. With his blade and stoic poise, Sasuke had quickly climbed the ranks of Oto and had earned the respect of his fellow nin.

Despite having power and respect, he always felt that something was missing. At first he believed it to be love, but quickly dismissed the thought. He didn't need love and the women in Oto, konoichi or not, would practically rip their clothes of when you offered sex. After dissming the thought of love he realized why he thought love in the first place. He wanted family.

Everytime he thought of family, his thought always crept toward his old teamates and sensei. They _were_ his family. He had left those close to him in order to gain power, and he knew that, given the chance to do it all over, he wouldn't have changed a thing.

_'Except maybe killing Naruto that day..'_

He wasn't foolish enough to think he could kill Itachi at his current level of power. He was strong, more so than that snake bastard, but he wasn't ready to face his god forsaken brother yet. He had all plans on bidding his time and waiting for the opportunity to dispose of Orochimaru. He had learned all he could from the Saninn and knew that it was only a matter of time before Orochimaru attempted to obtain his body for himself. Had he been squeamish, he might have shuddered at the thought of that disgusting snake taking his body.

Lost in idle thoughts of the past, future, and his plans to kill the Sanin, he failed to notice that he was being called.

"Sasuke-sama?"

Turning slightly, he saw an Oto jonin beckoning him over. Leisurely strolling toward the jonin, Sasuke wondered if he had been caught the other night. After they had set camp for the night, he had snuck out and pages Konoha a visit. It was tiring on his body, but he often went to the Uchiha districts to remind himself of what exactly he had lost. He let his heart become overcome with raw rage and fully intended to unleash it upon Itachi when the time came.

"What is it?" he asked after a moment of observing the scene and situation.

"Sir..we found Amari here..he's injured."

"I can see that."

"We didn't know if..you wanted to dispose of him.."

'_Amari_,' Sasuke thought. Amari was one of the few people Sasuke had actually bonded with while he had been with the snake. They had often sparred together and he had become quite fond of him, seeing him as a brother almost.

Said boy looked up at him. "Sasuke..I'm too injured to continue without assistance.."

Saying nothing, Sasuke took a moment to once over Amari's body. He had multiple third degree burns, probably from a lightening attack of some sort, and his leg was awkwardly bent at an impossible angle.

Closing his eyes, Sasuke slowly unsheathed his sword, making Amati look up at him in confusion.

"S-sasuke..?"

Sasuke glared at the nin beside him. "I told you to dispose of everyone too injured to continue. I would have rather not have seen this, as I'm compelled to put Amari out of his misery myself, as a friend should."

The jonin cowered. "Apologies, Sasuke-sama."

Ignoring the cowardly jonin, Sasuke turned his attention to Amari, who was looking at him with angry disbelief.

"You dare raise your blade to me?! After all we've been through, you think of me so-"

With a flick of his wrist, Sasuke silenced him forever. "Forgive me," he said as he dabbed the spot of blood the had splattered on his cheek.

Turning around, he noticed that the rest of the Too nin had gathered around him. Cleaning his blade with Amari's shirt, he promptly left while calling out that anyone not able to run for the rest of the trip would be killed in the same fashion.

Yep. Sasuke Uchiha was definitely going to hell.

* * *

Hinata glared at nothing. It had been six days since Neji's death and nothing had come up. They had no idea who had done it and she was starting to lose patience. She was currently walking toward the Hokage's mansion because she had got a sudden mission alert. She didn't know what the details of the mission were, but the anbu that had sought her out said it involved Takigakure.

She let out a tiny sigh as she couldn't help think about Neji. He was also an Anbu member and had just come back from a mission when the incident occurred. She wondered if her cousin would ever receive justice for his murder. She snorted as she thought back to her previous thought. Justice.

_'There is no justice in the world of ninja. We kill, steal, and destroy,'_ she thought.

As she was thinking she came across Naruto, who was just coming out of the ramen stand. The relationship between them had changed drastically following Hinata's acceptance into the Anbu Black Ops. Hinata didn't like being around the blonde simply because it reminded her of the shy weak girl that stalked him years ago. It made her sick.

Naruto didn't like being around her because after a night with Sakura she finally revealed that Hinata had the most obvious crush on him years ago. He felt bad for not noticing, so he usually avoided her at all cost, but seeing as how she was right in front of him, he couldn't dodge this time.

"Hinata-chan!," the blonde said with his usually grin, "Long time no see!"

"I suppose it has been Naruto.." she responded.

Noticing that she was in her ninja attire, he asked if she had been on her way to see the Hokage for a mission.

"Yes. I'm not sure what, but it had to do with Takigakure."

Naruto blinked. "Takigakure, you said?"

After a hasty nod, Naruto's expression changed completely.

"Well..I hope the village is ok..Shibuki as well."

"You know of them?"

Naruto smiled. "Of course! Sakura-chan, the teme, and I had a mission there when we were younger!"

At the mention of the youngest remaining Uchiha, Hinata thought about what it would be like fighting him. From what she had heard, he was strong enough to take out Yamato by his lonesome, all the while battling his teammates..or former teammates.

Wanting to get to the mansion, she bid the blonde a quick farewell, and after promising him to catch up sometime, continued on her way. When she got to the mansion, she didn't bother knocking as she knew would be expected.

"Hinata," Tsunade said, looking up from her paperwork, "Glad you're here. We have much to discuss."

"Hai Hokage-sama."

"First off, we have a lead in the death of Neji Hyuuga."

Her heart clenched in pain at the reminder that her cousin was deceased, but suppressing it, she asked the Hokage to continue.

"We found a small strand of hair on his clothing, and after a thorough analysis, we were able to find out whom the hair belonged to, though it might shock you."

She swallowed in anticipation. The sooner she knew, the sooner she could slit his or her throat. "Who was it?"

"Sasuke Uchiha."

She didn't understand. Wasn't the Uchiha at Oto getting violated by that snake pedophile?

"How is that possible?"

"I'm not sure, but that was his hair. Which brings me to my next topic."

Hinata forced herself to concentrate on the Hokage's words. She wouldn't let revenge take her over like it had done the Uchiha. She would release her anger when the moment was right.

"Takigakure sent out a distress signal about two days ago, claiming that they were attacked by sound ninja. They also claimed that the ringleader was a man with blood red eyes."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Sharingan?"

"That's why you're here. We're only two days behind so if you head straight for Oto, we should be on a collision course. Your mission is simple. Bring in Sasuke. I'm assigning Shikamaru, Lee, and Shino to the mission with you instead of your team."

Shino. Their relationship had been strained ever since she joined the Anbu. He wanted her to quit. She didn't care what he wanted.

"If you're assigning people Sasuke knows, why not Naruto?"

Tsunade gave her a blank look. "You'll be fighting as if you were trying to kill. Naruto would intervene. And I'm sure you'd like to rough him up. Just don't kill him, alright?"

"Understood," she responded.

"Good. Dismissed. Pack up and head for the gate. Your team will meet you there."

Hinata left the mansion with a surge of adrenaline. The Hokage was allowing her to fight Sasuke if given the opportunity, as long as she didn't kill him.

As she packed her bags and stepped out the door of her house, she mumbled.

"I really want to.."

* * *

A/N: What you guys think? Should I continue this or forgo? Leave a review. Thanks.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N- Hey guys. Back for another chapter. I got a lot of follows but only six reviews so I think people like it? Anyway, if you do like it, enjoy and review and stuff.

* * *

Prey for a Wolf

Chapter Two- Memories and An Encounter

She took her time walking to the gate, slow and methodical steps, recalling what she could about Sasuke Uchiha. She had seen him In the bingo book and she seemed to subconsciously remember things about him. He was the last living Uchiha, excluding his brother, Itachi Uchiha, who savagely murdered his own family, though somewhere in her mind she suspected that it was for a bigger purpose than most thought, however, she didn't care enough to dwell on it.

He was eighteen years of age, with handsome features and black hair. He was formerly apart of Team 7, which consisted of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and himself, lead by Kakashi Hatake. According to the reports Tsunade had received from Yamato, Sasuke specialized in Fire and Lightening elements, meaning earth and water style ninjutsu would be her most suitable option in combat.

Reaching the gate, she took a small moment to evaluate her teammate's conditions, all seeming to up to par. Rock Lee, whom she didn't know much about, but knew he was an extremely capable ally,despite his lack of ninjutsu or genjutsu skills. She allowed a small smile to form on her face as she acknowledged Shikamaru, who waved in return.

She remembered their brief casual relationship. It was simple. Neither wanted an emotional attachment. Both wanted sex. They were completely honest in that regard, and agreed to discontinue should of of them find a promising relationship. Not long after that, maybe a month or so, Hinata made it her personal mission to convince the lazy nin to pursue a certain fan wielding konoichi.

Eventually he gave in and asked Temari out, who happily agreed. She took a bit of pride in knowing she had convinced Shikamaru to get off his ass.

Lastly her eyes landed on Shino, who hadn't even bothered to turn around, much less acknowledge her existence.

_'He's still upset with me, I take it,'_ she thought.

It had been exactly ten months since that argument that had tested the now strained bond between Shino and herself. She thought about it frequently, and her mind flashed back to the events of that day.

~Flashback~

_"You should quit."_

_She looked up from her sitting position on the roof of her house, where she often came to watch the clouds, a habit she picked up from a certain lazy nin, to find Shino towering over her, looking as passive as ever, at least from the jacket he was using to cover his face._

_"Shino-kun. You surprised me. And what do you mean quit? Quit what?"_

_"The Ambu Black Ops. Quit," he responded, his posture calm, despite his slightly urgent voice, which Hinata noticed he only sounded like when he was nervous or anxious._

_"And why would I quit? I just became a captain."_

_He grunted out something unintelligibly, before muttering 'Too dangerous', which only grated on her nerves._

_"I'll decide what's too dangerous for me Shino," Hinata said, intentionally leaving out the suffix, which they both knew she only did when she was annoyed._

_"I'm aware that you're a fully capable konoichi, however-"_

_"What else is there to discuss then?" she interrupted, quickly growing irritated, despite her blank expression._

_"You're doing this for all the wrong reasons, Hinata. You spend every second of every day training, you barely eat, and I know for a fact you haven't slept, with as many missions as you take. Kurenai-sensei is worried about you. I also know that if Kiba were here, you would have never even joined the Anbu."_

_This time, she didn't even bother to conceal her scowl. "Good thing he's dead, huh?"_

_That would be the last time they would talk for a long time._

~End Flashback~

She wouldn't lie to herself and say she didn't regret what happened, but the stubborn part of her, the part of her that had formed after Kiba's death, wouldn't allow her to apologize. Her pride was more important to her than friendship. A less than amiable trait, but she didn't care.

"Alright, listen up. Our mission is simple, but potentially fatal and possibly S+ rank. Oto nin raided and purged an ally village and we are tasked with finding and eliminating the culprits, excluding a man with red eyes, who we believe to be Sasuke Uchiha. We are to capture him should we be forced to engage him, but be warned and take extreme caution when engaging him. He is extremely strong and we must not battle him without proper strategy. Shikamaru, should we meet Sasuke, you are to make sure our plan is full proof. Lee and I will be the ones primarily attacking him, while Shino provides long ranged support. Understood?"

"Hai!"

"Now," she said, and only then did she acknowledge Shino with her eyes, "Aburame-san. Your bugs can track the strongest chakra source towards our destination."

She noted that Shino stiffened when she said his name, as if she wasn't worthy of saying it, but choose not to comment, instead focusing on the mission.

"Hai," he said, before large numbers of insects swarmed him, each buzzing with excitement. After simply saying "go," the insects scattered, eager to do their master's bidding.

"For now we head towards Takigakure. Shino, alert me when your bugs have something."

Without waiting for a reply, she leapt into the tree's, knowing they were close behind her.

'_Uchiha.. I'll show you hatred, tenfold to what you feel..'_

* * *

'_That could have gone better,'_ Sasuke thought with frown that was rapidly increasing. That had successfully taken the item Orochimaru required, however, they had lost quite a bit of ninja doing it. It wasn't that Sasuke cared, he just wasn't in the mood to kill innocent people right now. He had done it before, tons of times really, but he never considered them as being innocent until now. This only made him angrier because he thought such mercy was weak.

They were now down to ten ninja, including himself. So one capable and nine useless. They had left the village in ruins, taking anything they wanted and killing anything in their way. Raping the women and killing them when they were finished. He didn't participate in such vile acts, but he made no move to stop it. He only glanced away as his fellow nin forcibly plunged inside the unwilling women.

He was genuinely surprised and the fight the villagers put up. He initially wanted to negotiate without conflict but after being refused twice, he lost patience and let his savage comrades handle his light work.. He only walked into stores as they did, salvaging whatever he could that wasn't already destroyed.

Now that he gave it some thought, he supposed there was one capable ninja besides himself. A girl. She was quite annoying, always within a arms distance. If he remembered right, her name was Karin. She was always receiving lustful stares from her male comrades, and he would be lying if he said she wasn't attractive. Petite, but with humble curves in the right places, Sasuke could fully understand why she got those looks. But every everyone has flaws.

Hotheaded, loud, and silently another fangirl. Even now, as he and the remaining group were resting, she was sitting right in front of him. She started to speak, but he cut her off, asking her to go get some fire wood, so he could start a fire, since he decided that they would sleep the night, wake up at around dawn, and continue back to Oto. His now less than a dozen team was practically dying from fatigue, so he had no choice.

As she walked away, he let his eyes roam her figure, and for a split second, he debated fucking her then killing her, but ultimately brushed the thought away, mostly because his teacher would be pissed. He sighed. It seemed like he was becoming a sociopath more and more these days.

"Sasuke!"

He whipped his head up to see Karin running toward him with a look of..worry? He rose as she stopped in front of him. "What is it? You couldn't carry the fire firewood?"

"No not that. We have potential enemy Konoha nin incoming!"

Konoha? Why were they anywhere near this area, he wondered. Unless...

He scowled and cursed himself for being so moronic. He should have known they would have sent a distress message to konoha, especially since he had completed a mission there three and a half years prior.

"How many were there?"

"There were four."

He looked at her like she was an idiot. Only four? He was expecting something a bit..more. He could easily dispose of those himself. "You panicked for four ninja."

"T-That's not why.."

"Care to elaborate? Why are you so hesitant? You never have trouble running your mouth before."

"...three of them had decent chakra, however.."

"However?"

"The fourth..the fourth ninja's chakra was stronger than your's, barely, but still."

His eyes widened. What? At his current level of power, he could take on Kakashi and win, and that was without the cursemark. Someone this strong was on par with..

He frowned and grabbed his sword. "Alert the remaining nin of this. We'll see what they've got."

* * *

"We're about twenty feet away from the nearest chakra source, Hyuuga-san."

She glanced at Shino. "Alright call your insects off to preserve chakra. I can sense them now. Is everyone ready? The plan must be executed flawlessly in order for it to work."

"Yes! We must show them our youth!"

"Ugh..so loud..what a drag.."

"Understood."

She nodded and continued running, making sure to initiate her plan, when a kunai zipped past her with incredible alacrity. "Hm..sooner than I thought. Shino."

"Right. Hidden Jutsu: Insect Scavenger," he said in a hush voice.

She felt it right away, and they weren't even targeting her. Walking up to a field she counted...eight...nine ninja. The redheaded girl the middle seemed to be calling the shots. Looking at her, Hinata surmised it would talk approximately 8.5 seconds to slit her throat.

Said redhead scowled. "Don't just stand there! Kill them!" she barked, prompting the other eight to charge the three.

Pulling out a kunai, Hinata quickly ducked as the first to reach her aimed a kick towards her midsection. She proceeded to slice the tendon by his ankle, quickly and effectively dropping him. He would bleed out in minutes and he couldn't move.

Wasting no time, she threw her kunai at the next, who shielded his face with his forearm guards. By the time he had put his arms down and was about to throw shuriken, she had already appeared in front of him, and kneed him in his larynx, crushing his throat and instantly killing him. She looked over at Lee, who had already dispatched three, then to Shino, who had three completely covered in his bugs.

"Such a painful way to die," she said more so to herself than to anyone else. She forced herself to remain focused. The nin were dispatched so the left one option. She looked at the redhead, who had ran as soon as Hinata looked at her. Coward.

She dashed after her and was surprised at how quickly she caught up to her. She put two and two together. She wasn't a fighter so she was either a medic or a sensor type konoichi. This wasn't her lucky day then.

Seizing her by the throat with a kunai, she ask one question. "Sasuke Uchiha was was with you. I sensed his chakra myself. Where is he? Speak now or I'll kill you with little thought."

Before Karin could speak, Sasuke was behind Hinata, staring straight ahead at the remains of his useless comrades.

"I presume you and your comrades did this?" he asked.

"We did. You're under arrest by Konoha authority. We have reason to believe you and your comrades destroyed a nearby village. We also have reason to believe you're involved with the murder of my cousin."

"Oh? I see. I have three questions. May I ask them?"

"By all means."

"One, where is the fourth one of your group. Or should I just activate my Sharingan? Better yet no. I want to see if he or she can still surprise me with an attack. Question two, these ants eating away at my chakra. Were they supposed to drain me? They don't seem to like my chakra. Its too ominous, I presume. So I guess I only have one question. What is your name, girl?"

She silently swore. He was much better than what the bingo books stated. And she had lost Shikamaru's surprise attack. It would be pointless now since he knew. So she answered his question. "Hinata Hyuuga."

He smirked to himself. Hinata Hyuuga. He remembered her. She was rather quiet. He supposed the saying "don't judge a book by its cover" was true.

"Hyuuga, huh? You changed."

"People change, Uchiha-san," she said, feeling her rage increase by his nonchalant manner, as if she wasn't a threat to him. "I'll ask one time. Please come with us quietly and I won't have to beat you within an inch of your life."

He had the balls to laugh, which only made her angrier. Shino and Lee stood by, ready to attack on her command. "Will you submit and come willingly?"

"Hm..i'm not really in a submissive mood today..so I'll pass," he replied, and she could hear the smirk on his face.

She smiled cruelly. "I must admit. I was hoping you'd say that."

He grinned. "Well..I would love to continue this talk..but I would much rather kill you, and I'm sure you would too, correct?"

"Indeed."

"So..enough talk, Hyuuga. Bring it."

Again wasting no time, she slit Karin's throat and lunged at Sasuke.

* * *

A/N: I know this was a bit shorter but i was having a bit of writers block. Tell me what you think, yeah? Oh and to those of you waiting for my other story, I'll be posting a new chapter by the end of the week. Review please! ^ u ^


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Back for another chapter. Just wanted to thank those who reviewed and whatnot. Anyway, enjoy.

* * *

Prey For A Wolf

Chapter 3-Hinata vs Sasuke

Hinata Hyuuga. Her reputation had preceded her. Outside the walls of Konoha, she was known simply as the White Wolf, because of the porcelain Anbu mask she wore, however, this mask was different from others. It had no markings, save for the drawn mouth, hence the name "White wolf." She was respected or feared among many villages as the youngest female ever to join the ranks of the Anbu in her village and the second youngest to achieve Anbu captain status. A skilled shinobi in her own right, she prided herself on both her versatility with missions and her natural poise in almost any situation.

Assassination, through various means, tracking, surveillance, hunting rogue nin, and even interrogation. She had done it all solely in the name of Konoha, and if she was being honest with herself, she loved the adrenaline that cascaded through her veins when she took on a mission. Her old self would have thought that to be vulgar, but It made her forget her pain for just a while. Made her feel less..numb.

Of course when the adrenaline went away, her pain came back with the vengence of an Uchiha. The Anbu served as a constant reminder of those she had lost. It had all begun with Kiba, and despite her grief, she could not change that, but after today, she would sure as hell make sure it ended with Neji.

She had originally intended to engage Sasuke with the strategy she and Shikamaru had come up with beforehand, but she could not contain the rage within her, and she was pretty sure Shikamaru would only intervene if it was absolutely necessary, seeing as how she had ruined the plan. Shikamaru supposed he couldn't blame her though. She was already holding in her anger, but the Uchiha's casual stoic demeanor only served to further grate her nerves until she exploded.

She had also never intended to kill the redhead, since she had planned on interrogating her along with the Uchiha in hopes of finding out the whereabouts of Orochimaru, because he most likely had some hand in the death of her cousin, especially if the Uchiha was involved, but again, her anger got the better of her and she ended up lacerating the girls neck.

_'I suppose it can't be helped,_' she thought as she leaned back, narrowly avoiding the tip of Sasuke's sword, _'the whore was awfully loud anyway.'_

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

She dismissed her thoughts, instead focusing on the battle,particularly the colossal fireball headed straight for her. She got out of harms way by jumping up multiple trees before forming hand signs. "Lee! Shino! Take cover! Katon: Kasumi Endu no Jutsu!" she said blowing a cloud of grayish gas down at Sasuke, who's eyes widened._ 'Gas? It probably-!'_

His thoughts were cut off as the explosion blasted through the entire field. Every shred of grass was horrendously burned as were the surrounding trees. She waited for the smoke to clear, half-expecting Sasuke to be burned to a crisp and/or unconscious at the very least, but saw nothing but burnt grass. "I guess hoping for that was probably pushing my luck," she muttered quietly to herself while looking around for Sasuke.

"That was pretty good, Hyuuga. I didn't expect you to use my own fire against me."

Pinpointing his voice, she discovered he was hanging off a branch directly across her. She immediately noticed strange wings of some sort on his body, and strange black markings, but both disappeared as quick as they appeared. She surmised he had probably flown to safety.

'_He's even better than i thought.'_

The instant she had lunged at him, in addition to activating her kekkei genkai,she immediately concluded three things. One, that she was faster than him, by an almost decent amount, though he was no slowpoke and what he lacked in speed she equally lacked in strength compared to him.

Two, his Taijutsu was average compared to hers. While he was good and could easily stay on par with Lee, the Hyuuga specialized in close-ranged combat, so if he was arrogant enough to attack her head on, he would either tire and be beaten or be completely overwhelmed, assuming Lee and Shino provided competent support.

The final conclusion she made was that she needed to remove the sword from his grasp. With it, he was almost able to match her in close-ranged combat. Almost.

His feet hit the ground with a thud and he raised his blade. "Whenever you're ready, princess."

She was visibly irked by the nickname, much to his amusement, and leaped into the air intent on beating him to a bloody pulp.

"Got you," he said, raising his left hand with a smirk. " Chidori Eisō."

A long stream of lightening pierced through the air, aimed at her heart, which she narrowly avoided.

Activating his Sharingan, he expanded the jutsu. "You won't get away."

The one stream of lightening suddenly branched off, becoming five, all surrounding Hinata.

"Shit," she swore. Seeing no other choice she quickly gathered chakra to her hands. "Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō," she whispered, moving her hands with such high precision, that sharp chakra blades formed around her body, preventing Sasuke's attack from touching her. She landed smoothly on the ground without a scratch. "Was that it?" she asked with a blank expression, "If so, you'll never beat me. Or Itachi for that matter."

Now it was Sasuke's turn to be irked as his expression turned icy and his sharingan eyes spun furiously. "You'll regret saying that."

Instead of replying, she opted to rush at him with such alacrity the earth beneath her feet was left in ruins. Of course with the Sharingan, Sasuke could easily see Hinata's movements and dodged with little difficulty, punched her twice in her abdominal, lifting her off the ground, and sent her flying with a kick to her chest.

Slamming back first into a tree, she growled and spit out some of the blood she coughed up. '_I should have figured. Sharingan. A frontal attack won't work. Unless..'_

Her thoughts were cut of as he threw shuriken in her direction, forcing her to dodge. She turned around and quickly formed her hand signs. "Kirigakure no Jutsu."

A thick mist began to surround the field, blinding Sasuke. '_I can't pinpoint her chakra because of the I'm already losing to much chakra maintaining the Sharingan. It's useless now.'_

As he deactivated it, Hinata promptly proceeded to close the distance she had made, seeing it as her chance to strike. Without giving him ample time to react, she thrust her open palm towards his face, internally smirking once it connected. The Uchiha staggered back, mildly stupefied as to how she managed to hit him, before narrowing his eyes and charging her, and to her excitement, with a much more serious look on his face.

He slashed at her and despite her best efforts, cut her multiple times in various area's. She winced as she skidded back. If she counted right, he had cut her eight times, particularly on her thigh and forearm, which she could feel intense pain with each movement. She didn't have time to heal it or even react because Sasuke had appeared in front of her.

She cried out as he delivered a kick to her midsection. She saw it coming at the last second and braced for the impact, but the force of the blow had knocked her back. He took advantage of her slight disorientation and charged again, though she was ready for it. She quickly swung directly in front of her, hitting nothing but air. With an angry yell, she spun around, fingertips laced with chakra, and struck. This time she connected.

He felt a numb sensation around his right forearm, and cursed himself for moving and attacking exactly as she wanted. She was Hyuuga after all, and their kekkei genkai was able to see nearly three hundred and sixty degrees around them. Now he would pay for that mistake.

"You're in range. It's over! Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!"

'_No!'_ he thought, as she proceeded to close off seventeen of his chakra points before he was able to get away with a substitution. Barely.

Hinata looked over her shoulder. "Shino! Do it!"

"Right," he said, and called his insects. "Go."

He was numb all over and was trying to get some distance when he suddenly stop moving. Looking down and saw that he was covered up to his knees in insects. They seemed to be pulsing as well.

"What the hell-Agh!" he cried out as he was sent flying by Lee..back in the direction of Hinata. He caught his balance too late and she elbowed him in his abdomen. He felt ripples of pain surge through his body as he coughed up blood. With the minimal and rapidly decreasing strength he had left, he activated the curse mark and made to back up again, but again she wouldn't let him get away.

"You can't escape, Uchiha." She quickly appeared in front of him, grabbed his kimono and jerked him forward. She then took out a kunai, her last, and using the blunt side, she slammed it against his wrist, breaking it. He bellowed in pain. She relished every moment of it. "If it was up to me, I would have stabbed you through the wrist and let you bleed out, but Lord Hokage ordered me not to kill you, so I'll settle for keeping you barely alive." With that she sent him flying with one final kick, leaving him floored and struggling mightily to get up. It was over.

* * *

Sasuke had seen a lot in his eighteen years. He had fought and beaten enemies that could easily match him and even kill him given a second chance to. He had killed countless, so many in fact, that he could not even begin to recall the number. He had taken beatings from the snake over and over until he perfected everything. He trained relentlessly until he could execute every and any move flawlessly, without a thought. But never in his life had he faced such overwhelming opposition. He had never been..almost afraid of someone.

He was breathing hard, and he was also pretty sure he had cracked a few ribs, so each labored breath felt as if he was being kicked in the stomach. Further self evaluation concluded that he had also injured the ligaments in his right shoulder and of course, his right wrist, which was conventionally the hand he used his sword with. The Kusanagi lay dispensed on the less than viridescent grass out of his reach. His clothes lay in tatters, one side of his kimono missing. He would never forget this humiliation.

He was outmatched, and he knew it, but the prideful part of him refused to acknowledge the thought that he had been bested. To him, it just simply wasn't possible. Hinata Hyuuga was a force to be reckoned with. She had also managed to gain his attention, but seeing as he was probably going to die or be captured, it didn't really matter.

He supposed they would drag him back to Konoha where he would spend the rest of his days in a cell. He hoped he died first. If he went back there, he would never be able to avenge his clan, and even worse, he'd spend the rest of his life in that cell thinking about it.

Even now, he could feel himself drifting in and out of consciousness, so he was sure he was only hearing things when a strained voice grunted. Lifting his head, he realized Karin's body was only a few feet away. That couldn't have been her? Right? She should have bled out in about fifteen minutes, and he had to have been fighting for at least an hour. So he dragged himself to her, and tried to ignore the puddle of blood he was going through. He heard extremely feint breathing, and to his astonishment, she was still alive.

"H-How are you still...?"

Instead of answering, she pointed to the small dirt spot next to her. Barely raising his head, he perceived a simple word written in the dirt: Bite.

* * *

She opted to heal her wounds with basic medical ninjutsu, before grabbing Sasuke. He couldn't stand and he would be passing out in about..three minutes give or take.

"Hinata."

Glancing back, she acknowledged a yawning Shikamaru with a nod.

"I didn't interfere because four on one is overkill. And the clouds looked so nice."

She smiled despite herself. "Lazy bum."

He lazily blinked at her. "I did you a favor. We most likely would have taken him down quicker if I joined in."

Her smile wilted a fraction. She remembered telling him about Neji's death the night before.

* * *

_~Flashback~_

_"So you gonna tell me what's wrong?"_

_She glaced up from the fish Lee had managed to catch by a nearby river. "What do you mean?"_

_He sighed. "Your posture is tense, you keep blinking, and you have yet to take a third bite of your fish."_

_She smiled sadly. "Ever the observer."_

_"I'm lazy. Not stupid."_

_So despite the warnings from Tsunade, she informed him of neji's death, largely because she knew she could trust him._

_~End Flashback~_

* * *

A quiet hum of confusion from Shikamaru roused Hinata from her thoughts. "Shikamaru? What is it?"

Instead of answering, he pointed towards Sasuke's direction, cause all three heads to turn. On one knee, looking as if he hadn't just gotten beat down, was Sasuke Uchiha. Her brows furrowed in confusion. He was on one knee. How was that even possible?

"He's... healed," Shino observed, "My insects detecting normal chakra levels. Its like he never fought."

"I do not understand! How can this be?" Lee inquired, "Did not Hinata-chan close off his chakra points?"

He was right. There was no possible way he should have been able to move. Shino had to have mistaken. Seeing as she was as dubious as ever, she had to see for herself. Activating her Byakugan, she peered into Sasuke's chakra system, and to her incertitude, his chakra circulation was completely normal. She had closed off seventeen! There was no way. "How the hell.."

Said Uchiha turned his head, red eyes looking directly behind her, before vanishing. "Where did he go?!" Shikamaru exclaimed.

Instead of answering, she looked behind her, with a glare, to find Sasuke picking up his Kusanagi blade. "How are you healed, Uchiha?"

With a passive expression, he was silent for a moment before speaking. "Hinata Hyuuga. A very worthy adversary, however, you should double check your kills next time. She healed me with the little chakra she had left before she died," he said, pointing to Karin's now dead body. "But that's irrelavent. Next time, I'll make sure we can settle this alone."

Before Hinata or any of the others could really process any of that, he, along with Karin's body, was gone.

"Chase after him!" Shikamaru blurted out, but Hinata grabbed her shoulder, halting him.

"What are we waiting for Hinata?" Lee called out, ready to take off.

Shinobi sighed. "Hinata is the fastest among us, and also the only person here able to catch him. The problem is..she's both fatigued and the injury she's obtained on her thigh will slow her down considerably. In her current state, she cannot catch Sasuke. In other words.." he trailed off.

She closed her eyes with an exasperated sigh. "We failed the mission."

* * *

A/N: Ok done. Personally I didn't like this chapter too much. I should have probably incorporated Shinobi and Lee in a bit more. But I'd rather you guy's opinions! What do you think? Criticism is welcome! And in case any one didn't know the jutsu's used here are some translatJutsu

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu: Fire Release: Great Fireball

Katon: Kasumi Endu no Jutsu: Fire Release: Mist Covering

Chidori Eisō: Chidori Sharp Spear

Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō: Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms Guard

Kirigakure no Jutsu: Hiding in the Mist

Hakke Rokujūyon Shō: Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms

See you next chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N:Wow it's been a bit. Sorry about that I've just been really busy. Anyway here's a chapter.

* * *

Prey for a Wolf

Chapter Four- Those Entangled In Despair

At some point the hunters became the hunted. It was ironic the more he thought of it, especially considering the timing. He had trained relentlessly and betrayed those he cared for to hunt the man responsible for engulfing him in solitude, only to become hunted, by a Hyuuga nonetheless.

He was humble enough to admit he had underestimated the girl drastically and had paid for it, almost with his life. The funny thing about arrogance was that it tended to make you blind in the most critical of times.

He had decided to grab Karin's body at the last moment. At the moment her corpse was draped over his shoulder, as if she was a sack of potatoes, and as he walked, blood or maybe rain (he hadn't bothered checking), dripped from her lifeless body.

She had been a rather costly lost, though he had taken her body because he had no doubt the snake wanted her corpse at least, the sick fuck, but it didn't matter much. He would get rid of the snake in due time.

A clap of thunder echoed in the distance and his thoughts lingered back to the Hyuuga.

He thought about how her moves were flawlessly executed, putting him at an early disadvantage. He thought of how she bested him in Taijutsu, one of his strongest skills, and how she was able to react swiftly in time with his attacks.

_It won't happen again._

That was his immediate thought. Humiliation was quite the wakeup call, and he swore that if she beat him a second time, it wouldn't be because of his overconfidence.

And what of her accusations? At the time, he paid it no mind, but when he thought back to it, he wondered if he had murdered someone from the village.

He had a habit of bypassing the village security in order to pay respects to his fallen clan. He had killed interferences before, but he had never been caught. He didn't even remember those he had executed. Everything was always a blur when he walked among the clan grounds.

The smell of death was still rather ripe in the air, and it was clear almost ten years had done little to improve it. He could still imagine the bodies everywhere, and the man he had once called his brother, looking at him with a calm expression as blood trickled from his red stained blade.

He cleared his mind at once, instead focusing on the soft patter of the rain.

* * *

_They were all around them; she didn't need her eyes to know that. She took a deep breath, trying to ignore her injuries, and looked at her teammates. One was looking both angry and worn out, the other, whose face was usually covered, but due to circumstances had nothing covering his face, was looking tired and dare she say, desperate._

_"We need to move now! I can smell them all around us! Shino! We'll keep them busy; you and Akamaru get to the village and send for help!"_

_"Kiba you barely have any chakra left, i don't think-"_

_An explosion blew them all in different directions, and she hit a nearby tree with a painful thud. The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was Kiba surrounded by the enemy._

She awoke when a startled cry. She looked around to see Shikamaru, Lee, and Shino each sleeping quiet before she sighed. The same dream had plagued her for a while now. **That** dream. She slowly got up, intent on training to clear her mind.

Their travel back to the village was one of silent tension. To say that Hinata was upset might have been the biggest understatement, given the circumstances. She gave off a strong aura of irritation, so much in fact, that even Shino was more silent than usual.

Shikamaru had already advised them all to stay out of her way, to which they hastily agreed was their best course of action.

As if the mood could not worsen any further, the sky darkened and rain began to pour, first in small sprinkles, and then gradually increasing. Even so Hinata made no move to stop them from traveling, or rather; she made no sound at all.

"Hinata."

He wasn't sure if she had not heard him, or simply chose to ignore him, but either way she made no sound whatsoever, eliciting a tired sigh from the genius boy.

"Hinata," he said once more, internally wishing he had declined taking this mission. He could have been lying on the grass staring at the clouds blissfully content with life. Instead he was stuck with a pissed off girl, and if his father had taught him anything whatsoever, it was to go the opposite direction of an irate female. He swore he could see the rain sizzling upon contact with her skin.

To his surprise she mumbled a near silent "hm," reminding him of a certain Uchiha who in the academy used the phrase when addressing his fan girls.

"What are we going to do? Hokage-sama will most likely remove us from the mission now.."

For nearly an hour she said nothing, simply running faster. The rain had ceased by the time they were within a mile of the village, when she suddenly turned to him.

"If i don't capture him, no one will," she said with such certainty that he could only sigh and reach in his pouch for a cigarette.

At that moment he realized two things. One, that Sasuke and Hinata were more alike than she, he , or any of them could fathom, and two, when she realized that it would most likely make her hate him even more, essentially meaning he would somehow someway be indirectly involved, which then meant no peace and quiet, and more importantly, no cloud watching.

He blew a puff of smoke and thought about what a drag this would be.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She had experienced pain at an early age, four to be exact. That was how old she was when she lost her not only her mother, but her father as well. The moment her mother died, he was willing to admit he never the same.

Some, no, most, would have naturally crumbled into a former shell of themselves, so it was no surprise to him when she did. She was fragile by nature but it seemed to worsen in her early teen years, which he came to realize years after.

And out of nowhere his nephew was killed, rather brutally. While he was angry, his position of authority in the Hyuuga household didn't allow him to make decisions based off of emotional turmoil's, something he hated about being the clan leader.

To surmise, this was the first he had ever allowed himself to believe that Hinata could and would achieve something. He knew her mother would have been disappointed in his treatment of her. As he silently asked for forgiveness, a sigh of relief escaped him as he felt her chakra enter Konoha.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I see. So I'm assuming mission was unsuccessful."

The only notion of a response she received was the uneasy shuffling of feet.

She took a sip of her "tea" and turned her attention to Hinata, who was clenching and unclenching her hands.

"You're all excused, with the exception of Hinata."

She internally chuckled at how fast the left the room, despite the serious atmosphere, perhaps to keep herself from caving under the recent chaos beginning to erupt in Konoha.

Two additional Konoha residents one ANBU, the other civilian, had died in the week they had been on their assignment. A curfew had to be issued to prevent further casualties and the ANBU were ordered to increase patrol around the village.

"Report."

With slight hesitation she began. "We confronted Uchiha Sasuke nearly two days ago. He was exactly as the bingo book stated though his cursemark ability has increased tenfold. He showed tremendous chakra control as well as both fire and lightening style. His taijutsu was easily comparable to Lee, and he was able to slip away from us at the last moment."

Tsunade could practically see the rage emitting from the petite Hyuuga, and if she was honest with herself, she didn't. Or rather couldn't blame her for it.

She released a quiet sigh, her eyes closing as she crossed her arms in thought. "I'll send out a team of hunter nin now, since our first attempt was a no go."

Hinata visibly stiffened. "With all due respect ma'am, i can find him. I just need-"

"Hinata, i don't believe you're stable enough to continue this mission, for obvious reasons."

Instead of yelling in protest, she quelled her rage, speaking slowly. "I'm capable of completing this mission. I sustained little injury and i-"

"I wasn't talking about physically, Hinata."

The dark-haired girl left with a sense of hopelessness.

She didn't even know what to do with herself anymore. She wanted, no, needed to be the one to capture Sasuke. She had convinced herself that it would heal her pain. She knew it wouldn't, but it was something. She forced her body to move toward the direction of her house, avoiding eye contact by keeping her head down.

"Hinata-chan!"

She kept walking hoping whoever would leave her the hell alone, but the voice lingered until someone touch her shoulder.

She turned and came face to face with the only grinning blonde male she knew, who, to his credit, immediately looked concerned when he saw her dejected state.

"Are you alright?" he asked, studying her expression.

"I'm fine," she replied unconvincingly after a moment of silence, causing him to frown. He looked around, spotting a nearby tea shop.

"Come on," the blonde said, firmly grabbing her hand, much to her dismay, but she gave no sign of rebellion.

They took their seats and ordered their drinks, and for a moment they simply stared at one another, unwavering. Finally she sighed and told him about Tsunade removing her team off a particular mission, never stating what the mission was. She finished her explanation right as the waitress returned with their drinks.

"I can talk to her if you'd like," he said, adding twice as much sugar needed, "Maybe convince her."

She stirred her drink and debated this but ultimately declined. She wondered if the Hokage's advisors had any part in this, since they did tend to have a laborious way of handling things. She took a small sip, and asked him what he had been up recently.

"About two and a half weeks ago, I was accepted into the ANBU, though they moved me into something called the root division, where I met this old man named Danzo."

Her eyes widened slightly. Why would Naruto be put into the Root division of the ANBU? Danzo most likely wanted to keep tabs on him, but she kept these thoughts to herself, making a mental note to look into it later.

"Have you been given the entrance mission yet?"

At this, he faltered, his expression becoming a tad more serious. "Yeah, though we aren't supposed to speak of it. The last person who did disappeared without trace."

She didn't need him to explain. Rumor has it that the entrance mission was the worst mission a Root rookie would complete. It was supposed to test his or her loyalty through mental, physical, and emotional trauma. It was why they acted like machines without feelings. She could only surmise that Naruto either had an easy entrance because of his special conditions, or he was an amazing actor. She put her bets on the latter.

Hinata had heard rumors of the work the Root conducted behind closed doors. The ordinary ANBU, like herself carried out assassination mission and things like that, but the Root did that in addition to dealing with the missions even Tsunade wouldn't give out. They were under Danzo's explicit control because of this.

They talked for a about fifteen minutes before paying, Naruto insisting he pay for the drinks, and bidding the other farewell. By this time, she had already come to a decision and was on route to one of the few she knew she could trust.

* * *

As soon as he saw her face he knew his previous prediction was right. He let her in with a sigh mumbling about how troublesome this would be.

"So you're planning on leaving the village to hunt the Uchiha?"

She nodded.

"And you want me to cover for you?"

She nodded once more.

The boy yawned. "How exactly am I supposed to do that?"

"You're the genius. Figure it out," she said, looking at him with what she hoped was a pleading facial expression.

He groaned. He just had to become a ninja. He could have been watching clouds and sleeping right now. Instead, he had to cover for Hinata. Why the hell did he become a ninja? I mean of all the-

"Shikamaru."

And with that he was pulled out of his thoughts, his eyes coming into contact with the Hyuuga girl. He sighed. "Fine. Get everything you need ready now. Fortunately for you, i have a friend on guard duty tonight. He'll let you pass. I can cover for a day at max but after that I'll have no other choice but to tell the Hokage, but you should be long gone by then. How will you track him?"

"Akamaru."

He paused. "He hasn't been out on a mission since.."

She swallowed down memories that threatened to overwhelm her. "Yea i know. But it's the only way i can even begin to track him."

He was silent instead flicking his lighter of and on, a habit he tended to do when he was nervous about something. "Just be careful, would you? I've only befriended two Hyuugas in my life, and I'd rather not lose the last over her revenge obsession."

She thanked the lazy boy and headed to the Inuzuka compound, where she met up with Hana and told her she simply wanted to spend time with him up, the dog licking her hand affectionately, she proceeded to her own house and packed her essentials, all the while thinking of what she would do when she confronted Sasuke. She had enough troubling taking him down with her entire team, so she knew that by herself it would be hell.

By nightfall, she and Akamaru had exited the village in search of Sasuke.

_'Just watch. I'll make you pay for what you did, and this time, i won't let you slip through my fingers.'_

Little did she know, said Uchiha was training vigorously, awaiting their confrontation.

* * *

A/N: What do you think will happen? Criticism welcomed in reviews. Later.


End file.
